Logically speaking, around a lotus pond like this, there should have been no shortage of wild Pokémon.
And yet, ever since they had arrived, they had only seen a pitiful one or two small Pokémon.
All the other Pokémon seemed to have vanished, as if they had all run away at once.
It was truly strange.
When Nathan returned to the campsite, Grog was already preparing to start a fire.
"Grog, when you were out gathering dry wood, did you see any Pokémon? Were there many of them?" Nathan asked casually while tidying up.
Grog paused for a moment to think, then answered:
"Now that you mention it, there really weren't that many. But hey, we came here for the scenery, didn't we? So if there aren't that many Pokémon around, then so be it."
Unlike Nathan, Grog tended to be a bit more carefree whenever he came out traveling.
To him, the fact that there were fewer Pokémon in the area wasn't worth paying much attention to.
"Volcarona, come out."
Nathan released Volcarona from its Poké Ball.
He had Volcarona light the campfire with a small Ember, and once the flames were crackling, Nathan instructed it to scout around the surroundings.
Meanwhile, the two girls, already prepared, brought out skewers they had arranged earlier and began grilling them over the fire.
About half an hour later, Volcarona flew back.
"Did you find anything unusual?" Nathan asked as Volcarona landed.
"Nathan, I didn't see anything at all, but there really were very few Pokémon out there."
Volcarona's crisp, youthful voice rang clearly.
After some time of practice and adaptation, Volcarona was now able to speak fluently.
Nathan nodded. Since nothing unusual had been discovered, all they could do was assume that the local Pokémon population was simply sparse.
After eating and drinking their fill, Nathan cleaned up the trash, then accompanied Lily to take photos and stroll about.
Since they had specifically come to admire the lotus flowers, he had even gone out of his way to buy two inflatable kayaks.
After pumping them full of air, Nathan and Lily floated lazily atop the lotus pond in the kayaks.
Though it was called a "lotus pond," in truth, the pond's area was enormous and more like a lake.
It spanned roughly the size of three or four football fields.
Nearly seventy percent of the water's surface was covered in lotus leaves, and occasionally one could see a small Pokémon poke its head up from beneath the water.
The four of them spent the afternoon playing on the water until they were tired, then returned to the shore.
As the sky began to darken, Nathan, ever cautious, had Volcarona make another round of the area to ensure their safety.
Though Volcarona once again found nothing out of the ordinary, at least it confirmed that there was no immediate danger nearby.
That meant they could sleep soundly.
…
Late at night, with the chorus of crickets and insects chirping in the background, Nathan gradually drifted off into slumber.
But not long after he had fallen asleep, a violent booming sound tore through the night and jolted him awake.
Throwing on his clothes in haste, he rushed out of the tent and immediately mounted Volcarona, soaring into the sky.
He looked around in every direction, but no matter how he scanned the horizon, he saw nothing unusual.
By the time he returned to camp, Lily and the others were awake as well. The noise had been so loud that, of course, they couldn't have slept through it.
"What happened? Don't tell me some Pokémon went on a rampage again?" Lily asked anxiously as she came up beside him, glancing at Nathan as he dismounted from Volcarona.
"No. I flew around with Volcarona, but I didn't see anything. Let's just go back to sleep. We'll check it out tomorrow."
Nathan shook his head, pulling Lily back toward the tent.
They had spent the morning driving and the afternoon paddling on the pond, so he was thoroughly exhausted. He didn't feel like wandering out into the night just to investigate.
The next morning, as the sun peeked over the horizon, Nathan stretched and yawned, stepping out of his tent.
He intended to wash his face at the water's edge, but as soon as he reached the pond, he froze completely.
Was this still the same lotus pond as yesterday?
The breathtakingly beautiful pond they had admired the day before… was gone!
No—on closer inspection, the pond itself hadn't disappeared.
It was the water that had vanished.
Now, all the lotus flowers and broad green leaves had collapsed into the mud at the bottom.
Only a few low-lying areas retained small patches of stagnant water.
The rest of the pondbed lay exposed and barren, the water having disappeared without a trace.
"I knew it…"
Before Nathan could even gather his thoughts, Grog's voice sounded behind him.
Nathan blinked, stunned. He knew? Knew what? Could it be that Grog knew how the water had disappeared?
But before he could ask, Grog added something that made him speechless.
"Following the protagonist always means trouble. But thankfully, this time it's not me who's unlucky—it's this poor lotus pond."
…
Nathan circled the dried pond and quickly discovered the reason for the vanishing water.
There was a massive crack in the ground.
Standing at the edge, he couldn't even see where the fissure ended.
It stretched at least three meters wide and seven to eight meters deep—just enough to be deeper than the pond itself.
The crack had drained away all the water from the lotus pond.
Because their tents were set up some distance away, even if there had been the sound of rushing water last night, it would have been faint and easily missed.
That huge booming noise they had heard in the night must have been the cause—the fissure opening in the earth.
But for such a long, deep rift to appear, the earth's crust in this area must have been fragile.
"Grog, stay here and keep an eye on them. I'll leave Frosmoth behind to guard you."
Nathan released Frosmoth, instructing it to protect Grog and the two women.
Then he mounted Volcarona and followed the crack's direction.
After about ten minutes of flight, the small roads and paths disappeared entirely.
Ahead lay nothing but endless dense forest.
Strangely, he still didn't see many wild Pokémon along the way.
At last, Nathan reached the end of the fissure.
What lay there was a gigantic crater.
He had Volcarona land at the edge, then climbed down into it himself.
Looking at the fissures webbing across the crater walls, he could imagine what had happened.
Last night, while they slept, some powerful Pokémon—enraged for some reason—had either flown overhead or had already been above, and then struck the ground with a single devastating blow.
By sheer misfortune, the strike had landed here, in a geologically fragile area.
The impact had opened this crater, and in turn, the crack that drained the lotus pond.
"Mewtwo, come out."
Nathan glanced at Volcarona's delicate flame-like arms, then dismissed the idea of having it test the ground.
This task was better suited to Mewtwo.
"Mewtwo, try striking the ground here. Aim to create a crater like this one if you can."
Nathan pointed at the massive crater beneath his feet.
Mewtwo swept its gaze across the hole, then gave a slight nod.
Hovering into the air, it suddenly dove down, its fist smashing into the ground.
Boom!
The earth shook violently, and another crater formed.
Though smaller than the one Nathan had discovered, the result was essentially the same.
Cracks spread outward from the impact point, rapidly stretching into the distance.
All the evidence pointed to one thing—Nathan's earlier suspicion was correct.
The fissure had not been created by a move or technique, but by sheer destructive force combined with the weakness of the crust here.
"Mewtwo, how much of your power did you use?" Nathan asked after a pause.
"…My full power," Mewtwo admitted without hesitation.
Full power!?
Although Mewtwo was not currently in its Mega-Evolved state, its complete strength was already extraordinary.
That level of force was not something just any Pokémon could replicate.
Only one other came to mind.
Shadow Mewtwo.
Could it have been Shadow Mewtwo that caused the noise last night?
The more Nathan thought about it, the more convinced he became.
After all, Mewtwo was a legendary level Pokémon. In terms of raw power, there were very few that could rival it.
And in this region, the only legendary level Pokémon whose strength could match Mewtwo's was Shadow Mewtwo.
The crater Mewtwo had just created was a bit smaller than the earlier one. But if Mewtwo had been in its Mega-Evolved state, the two would have been nearly identical.
And considering that when Mewtwo had fought Shadow Mewtwo before, the two were virtually equal in power, this confirmed Nathan's theory even more.
That crater—it had to be Shadow Mewtwo's doing.
He had originally thought that it might take a long time before he could find another lead on Shadow Mewtwo.
But who would have thought that simply accompanying Lily on a leisure trip would lead him right to a new clue?
(End of Chapter)